Portsmouth man charged with soliciting prostitute

PORTSMOUTH — A resident named as a bad client on two “escort” websites is charged with engaging a prostitute in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

The Maine police department announced Monday that Scott Pipher, 34, of 358 Court St., had been arrested on the prostitution charge and is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 30. Police in that resort town also announced the arrests of two women on prostitution charges and said more arrests are expected.

Messages left at the Old Orchard Beach Police Department Tuesday, in an effort to obtain further information, were not returned.

Pipher is named on the websites National Blacklist and Bad Boy Client List as someone who has elicited complaints from so-called escorts. The sites serve as databases for escorts to share information about clients. On one site, Pipher is described as being “notorious for booking outcalls and then not answering his door or phone.”

Portsmouth police said they were dispatched to Pipher’s Court Street residence on Sept. 30 at 9:41 p.m. when a woman complained that she was booked to perform a private dance, but said the man who ordered the dance refused to answer his door when she arrived.The dancer claimed it was a theft of her services but police Capt. Mike Schwartz countered that it wasn’t a theft because she never danced.

A week later, police said, they were called by a woman who said she was hired as an “exotic dancer” to go to the same 358 Court St. address, became “freaked out” by the man who hired her and fled in such a hurry she left some of her clothing behind.

Deputy Police Chief Corey MacDonald said police investigators had difficulty with witnesses in both instances and that there were no related arrests.